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saskdiy

New Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Don't regret building my own system from scratch. Don't regret going water cooling. Don't regret that the system developed a leak after three months. What I do regret is choosing the fm2+ system to build from. I liked the level of onboard graphics and have and always will support amd. But the fact that I can't shop anywhere close to me as non of the computer shops carry the fm2+ board. Just wish I would have hit up the am3 instead. Always check for leaks even after the initial 48 hours with no parts in the system it can happen I'm living proof. Now I have a 150$ deadly Frisbee. Stay dry my peers.
 
Water cooling is a great little hobby, if not an expensive one. Even if you are 1 year down the road and your WC gear has been running perfect, you should still, IMO, perform a visual closeup inspection on the fittings, tubing, etc and look for ANY wet spots along with running your fingers along those same areas for even just a feel of moisture.

Sorry to hear about your leak :(
 
Damn man that sucks. What did you run in your loop?

I once got a leak. A huge leak that shutdown my rig. All over my mobo, in my psu, and most of the water hit my gpu's.

I ran only distilled water. I took everything out and took my wifes hair dryer and dried the parts. I left the parts on my table for 24 hrs and then put it back together on air. They all worked. Gamed for 1 hr, broke the rig down, and next day it was back on water!
 
Definately Sobe. My setup gets assembled and disassembled quite a bit. I was benching one day and stated having some issues, nothing unusual since That happens when pushing things. Was about to flash the bios when I noticed a puddle of water coming out from under my board. Luckily I survived , this time but have had moisture kill things in the past.

Saskdiy, break it all down and let it dry for a while it might surprise you.
 
I will have to say I've been lucky, since I started taking up watercooling I have yet to have a leak in the give or take 3 years I've been on water and through various water loop upgrades, but the possibility is still there. I try to once a week or once every other week remove the side of the case and get an air duster in the computer, but before I do that I get a light to inspect everything, because if I am to assume right, with even a little dust formation if there is any water leaking I should notice an area on tubing, etc. that looks deformed from the normal specs of dust.
 
Sorry about your leak. I've been watercooling for years. Just recently I had an elbow fitting pop and it leaked all inside my case. Didn't reach my board, but it did leak all over my SSD's and my optical drives.

Using a whole roll of paper towels and hand towels I managed to dry all my stuff off. A hair dryer finished the drying and several hours later my system was up and running again.


When you go H20, you gotta check, recheck, double check and triple check everything. Be sure every clamp. fitting, barb is snug tight. We sometimes overlook something because we're so engrossed in the build. It happens.
 
Don't regret building my own system from scratch. Don't regret going water cooling. Don't regret that the system developed a leak after three months. What I do regret is choosing the fm2+ system to build from. I liked the level of onboard graphics and have and always will support amd. But the fact that I can't shop anywhere close to me as non of the computer shops carry the fm2+ board. Just wish I would have hit up the am3 instead. Always check for leaks even after the initial 48 hours with no parts in the system it can happen I'm living proof. Now I have a 150$ deadly Frisbee. Stay dry my peers.

Sorry to hear about the hardware. Stuff happens

Mind sharing the source of the leak? Might as well turn this into a learning experience and analyze the cause so your mobo did not die in vain :thup:. I've personally only had leaks when I received barbs like these from a member here to try :

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/bidewh3hobaf.html - I mean the style with 3 ribs after the initial lip and not this specific brand of barbs. I'm not sure the brand as I threw them away a few years ago.

I always use this style:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/big1sidi1fi.html - just the lip without the ribbing and this specific brand/model of barb and I've had 0 leaks when yanking on tubing, travelling by car or airplane to lans with all the vibrations so I really swear by these.
 
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Water Cooling is scary


no fear here. I start water cooling for the first time 7 months ago. Everything to date is working flawlessly. The most important thing I can think of is know what you are doing and use high quality components. Having a leaks is also possible but do it right, will also be unlikely to have a leaks.
 
Back in the day when I water cooled my rig ran good for months. Then a leak happened and didn't notice it until it started pooling on my desk. Thankfully nothing crapped out but its something always to wonder... what might happen.

Then again I got another story with water cooling, except this time it killed my motherboard. Though it wasn't water that did it. Voltage from the motherboard some how came in contact with the water block on the CPU and blew out a hole in my motherboard with flames and all. I'm lucky that just the motherboard died and nothing else, including burning down my place. BTW the system was running flawlessly when this was happening, during the middle of a benching run.

Always check the PC when cooling. Closed loop circuits that you buy I'd feel a little more comfortable with but never leave anything to chance when dealing with electronics and water.
 
Been watercooling 11-12 years so far no leaks. I use same method as swiftech suggested, a wrench to tighten fittings to blocks/rad an extra fraction of a turn, and a wrench to tighten compression fittings all way down on appropriately thick tubing, like 3/8 5/8. I can yank and twist on mine without loosening anything. Hand tight will become loose on tubing which compresses over time. And use as few rotaries as those leaking is just bad luck (assuming no tension), and dont use bay or glued reservoirs. But admittedly my only leak testing is 10 minutes takes to bleed...until I get burned once. For me best way to avoid leaks, is patience during build, make sure everything is tight and wont come lose over time.
 
Been watercooling 11-12 years so far no leaks. I use same method as swiftech suggested, a wrench to tighten fittings to blocks/rad an extra fraction of a turn, and a wrench to tighten compression fittings all way down on appropriately thick tubing, like 3/8 5/8. I can yank and twist on mine without loosening anything. Hand tight will become loose on tubing which compresses over time. And use as few rotaries as those leaking is just bad luck (assuming no tension), and dont use bay or glued reservoirs. But admittedly my only leak testing is 10 minutes takes to bleed...until I get burned once. For me best way to avoid leaks, is patience during build, make sure everything is tight and wont come lose over time.

This is the exact same for me, except I leak test for at least a couple hours. This has saved me on 1 occasion when an o ring on a barb on the gpu was bad. I would have never noticed it if I had not left it testing for a few hours because it was a very small leak. That is the only "scare" I have ever had. If you are careful, and follow procedures, watercooling is perfectly safe. But as with all things in life there is always risk.
 
if you will go the the auto pats store they have coolant dye that shows up very well under uv light, 2-4 drops is all you need, once in a while shine a uv light in your case and any seepage will shine so nice and bright.
all my seepage is at the "o" ring of the fittings.
 
I've considered going under water for my CPU + GPU'S, but it gets expensive, I have no idea what I'm doing in the water world and I hear stuff like this.

Sorry about your leak bud, total bummer :(
 
I've considered going under water for my CPU + GPU'S, but it gets expensive, I have no idea what I'm doing in the water world and I hear stuff like this.

Sorry about your leak bud, total bummer :(

Well for me a newbie at it myself, I see it as a challenge. I do realize not everyone wants to take the risk and heck I didn't at first and I'm still not sure I want to now.

I have two @ $400 dollar video cards on the line , not counting another $300 for the cooling... LOL

Point is if you can't take the hit for a water cooling malfunction (heaven forbid) probably best to stay away from it.

Doing the two R9 290 cards alone scare the crap outta me... :shock: But at the same time its on me to do it correctly and not blame it on the manufacture for my mistake/s
 
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Cleaned the board off been drying for going on the third day cleaned everything up before I noticed the water it ha been shutting down with a short of some kind it was sourced from the block on the CPU. I think it might still run but not banking on it got the seal on the block redone and its been running no leaks since the tear down two nights ago. Hope its good to go will be putting it back together tonight see what the positive karma I have built up will let me get away with. It was as my name states a diy block that was getting great numbers only 10° above ambient with a 700mHz oc. Was going to get a purchased block but the homebrew in me was like I could use that 60 on beer and whiskey. Think I might rip the block apart and redo it again with better tools.

All in the whole loop cost me 100 bucks to make.

If the boards dead it will be the second I have killed on water the first was an old as me kg7 that was not result of the water but one of the components burst into flames right beside me scared the crap out of me and shot smoke out my PSU in spectacular fashion. This one was a just shut down with minor corrosion on base components.
 
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I've considered going under water for my CPU + GPU'S, but it gets expensive, I have no idea what I'm doing in the water world and I hear stuff like this.

Sorry about your leak bud, total bummer :(
It can get expensive very quick. To save some money consider buying used.

Another way you can save on $$ is buying universal GPU blocks. I have used my MCW 82's for GTX 480's, GTX 580's, GTX 680's and now 7970's. I bought a bunch of RAM sinks which can be expensive, but if you do it like me you can use those blocks generation after generation. The full blocks have a much cleaner look, but the universal blocks cool the core just as well.

Just something to consider.
 
I will get some pictures of the setup after I get off work. Still works hells yeah!
 
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